Australian Dictionary of Biography

Jack Lawrence Kelly (1920–1999), judge and army officer, was born on 25 September 1920 in North Sydney, only child of locally born parents Sidney Leslie Kelly, manufacturer’s agent general, and his wife Myra Edith, née Lawrence. The family moved to Brisbane, where Jack was privately tutored before attending Brisbane Grammar School (1933–36) on State scholarships. He won numerous academic prizes, represented the school in athletics, and served as a prefect. In his final year he was awarded the Lilley gold medal as dux of the school, and an open scholarship to the University of Queensland (BA, 1940; LLB, 1949). He entered the Queensland Public Service in March 1937 as a clerk and, concurrently, began his university studies.

In January 1939 Kelly joined the University Detachment of the 9th–49th Battalion for part-time service in the Citizen Military Forces (CMF). Following the outbreak of World War II, he interrupted his law studies and civil employment to begin full-time duty on 22 September 1941 as a lieutenant in the 9th Battalion, a unit of the 7th Brigade. In July 1942 he transferred to the Australian Imperial Force and in October was promoted to temporary captain (substantive 1944). He served with the battalion in Papua at Milne Bay (August 1942–March 1943) and Port Moresby (April and August–December 1943), initially as adjutant then, following his promotion, as a company commander. Posted to the brigade’s headquarters in March 1945, he performed staff duties in Bougainville from April to November. He transferred to the Reserve of Officers on 18 December in Brisbane. At St Michael and All Angels Church of England, New Farm, on 20 January 1944, he had married Mavis O’Brien, a public servant.

Kelly worked as a salesman for the National Cash Register Co. Pty Ltd then, in 1947, resumed his university studies. Although he was admitted to the Queensland Bar on 13 December 1949, he held the position of private secretary to the treasurer and deputy prime minister, Sir Arthur Fadden, from 1950 to 1952, and did not begin practising law until 1953. He was a member (1957–70) and chairman (1960–70) of the State’s Licensing Commission; a member (1965–70) of his alma mater’s law faculty board; a member (1965–70) of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for the State of Queensland; and vice-president (1968–70) of the Bar Association of Queensland. In 1964 he was appointed QC.

Beginning his judicial career on the bench of the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea in 1970, Kelly was appointed an acting judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland in November 1972. The following year he was made the court’s central judge, based at Rockhampton. Returning to Brisbane in 1978, he was senior puisne judge from 1985; he had periods as acting chief justice in 1986 and 1988. In addition, he was a judge of the Court of Appeal for Solomon Islands (1982–84) and chairman of the Queensland Parole Board (1983–85).

From 1948 to 1950 Kelly had resumed part-time service in the CMF as founding officer commanding the Queensland University Regiment. He returned to the regiment in 1954, rising to major that year. In October 1957 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and appointed as commanding officer of the 9th Battalion. His commitment was such that he startled his Albion neighbours by running at night, a pack on his back loaded with bricks, to remain fit for the annual camp. He relinquished his command in July 1960 and was again placed on the reserve. In August 1969 he was promoted to colonel and appointed legal consultant (CMF) at Army Headquarters, Canberra. He was the judge-advocate of the court martial, held in May 1970 in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), at which Private Peter Denzil Allen was convicted of murdering Lieutenant Robert Convery. An Act of the Queensland parliament enabled him to remain on the Supreme Court while holding (1976–82), without remuneration, the appointment of judge advocate-general of the Australian Army, in the rank of temporary major general. In this role he oversaw the drafting of the Defence Force Discipline Act 1982. He was appointed CBE (1982) for his military service.

Mavis Kelly had been her husband’s associate during his term as the Supreme Court’s central judge. She died in 1982. In a civil ceremony at Woree, Cairns, on 6 January 1984 Kelly married Isobel Catherine (Belle) Smith, née Gallogly, a motel proprietress. Having reached the statutory age, he retired in September 1990. At his valediction, Chief Justice J. M. Macrossan emphasised his professionalism and effectiveness in all divisions of the court. Other speakers praised him as a quiet achiever, orderly and timely in his work, and courteous, fair, and unpretentiously dignified in court.

Possessing a ready sense of humour, Kelly was good company on social occasions but valued his privacy and enjoyed the solitary recreations of reading and gardening. He was five feet five inches (165 cm) tall and of slender, athletic build. From 1946 he was a prominent member and president (1979‑80) of the United Service Club, Brisbane. He died on 20 April 1999 in Brisbane and, following an Anglican service, was cremated. His wife survived him, as did the three daughters, Margot, Judith, and Linda, and one son, William, of his first marriage.